Class 2- Art and Identity- Dealing with Terminology

Terminology/Notes on two Readings
Hall, Stuart, "Who needs 'Identity'?" in Questions of Cultural Identity

Notes of Importance for Class Reading

“Who needs “Identity””?

· 2 ways to respond to who needs identity

· Identity is such a concept-operating ‘under erasure’ in the interval between reversal and emergence; an idea which cannot be thought in the old way, but without which certain key questions cannot be thought at all

· Where, in relation to what set of problems does the irreducibility of the concept, identity emerge?

· Idenitifcation-process of articulation, a suturing, an over-determination or lack but is always too much or too little an over-determination or lack, but never a proper fit, a totality.

Introduction to Identity as a Question

· Identity difficult term

· Only when it is being threatened-identity crisis, unsure of self etc does identity become a question

· Book explains the troubles, and the sociological approach to the issues of identity

· Another disciplinary perspective on identity

What is Identity? Sameness and Difference

· Hinges on absurd combination of sameness and difference

· Idem (same) latin word

· Not only are we identical with ourselves (same from birth to death) but we are identical with others

· We share common identities

· “women” or men, Canadian, American, Black, White

· aspect of uniqueness allows people to be different

Art and Identity Entry September 13/10

The journal aspect of my Fine 290 course will be presented in a BLOG format. I have not used this blog since my trip to Berlin, and it is the perfect way to touch on important notes/ideas discussed throughout this course.

DAY ONE-Intro to our professor Bojana Videkanic

• The issue of identity would not exist without the so-called Post modern age
• Identity can be seen as an interface
• each person can be formed or institutionalized
• does the preface "ART" excuse people from behaviours/morals

Lesson from First Lecture

• Identity would not exist without Post-Modernity

Examples

Orlan-First Surgery-Performance or "unicorn" operation

Sandro Botticelli- The Birth of Venus-1485

Some Self Portraits

Berlin Beer!

Holocaust Memorial

Brandenburg Tor

Photo-taking!

Altes Museum

Night out at the Opera

Front Row Tickets!

Waiting in the Airport

Wurst!

Sushi! Cold Sake Prost!

Hamburger Bahnhof Trainstation

Andy Warhol's Guns

Day 9

Free Day to Travel

Some funky Statues

Inside Berliner Cathedral

Protest of some sort

Day 8

Visit to Potsdam

Sans Souci

Day 7-Hamburger Bahnhof

Topography of Terror

Checkpoint Charlie

Hamburger Bahnhof

Hamburger Bahnhof

The Marx Collection

The Hamburger Bahnhof is the third location of Berlin’s Nationalgalerie.  With a collection of works dating from 1960s to the present, the Hamburger Bahnhof is one of the largest and most prominent contemporary art gallery’s worldwide. The size of the building itself was quite overwhelming; endless amounts of art work to see everywhere.  My interest in the Hamburger Bahnhof was in their permanent collection; The Marx Collection.  The Marx collection has three linking rooms full of works from Rauschenberg to Warhol.  The curator of the Marx Collection, Heiner Bastian, assembles and circulates the permanent collection to bring together works that are interrelated in terms of theme and motive.  The theme of the show throughout the reading week dealt with Vanitas; visual themes and symbols reflecting the shortness of earth dominated things and world wealth and satisfaction of sensual desires.

Warhol’s works take over this collection.  His works Camouflage, Ten-Foot Flowers, Mao, Cangney, Ambulance Disaster, Double Elvis, Big Electric Chair, and Multicoloured Marilyn are works that dominate in this showing.  Influenced by celebrities of his time, Warhol explored the theme of vanitas.  From political figures, celebrities, to patterns and flowers, Warhol dominates the silkscreen mass-produced art process.  By manipulating icons through repetition, colour, and creative pattern devices he achieves this media visual overkill status with his work.  My favourite within this collection was his political work ‘Mao’ taking up an entire wall of the gallery space.  Mao Tse-Tung becomes a pop icon through Warhols display.  This large-scale painting had a repetition even on the wall in which the painting was hung; repetitive purple Mao face sketches similar to a wallpaper format.      

Mao is one of a series of silk-screened portraits of Chinese Political Leader, Mao Zedong.  Founding the People’s Republic of China, ruling as Chairman of the Communist Party, Mao was an inspirational leader for millions of Chinese.  In 1973 Warhol produced a Mao masterpiece using a portrait of this leader with a smile, but still serious facial expression to emphasize his political position.  Measuring roughly 15 feet tall, with rough brushstrokes on top of a photographic image of Mao, this large work is quite powerful.  

The work within the Marx Collection gallery space takes up an entire wall.  The silkscreen portrait is in black and yellow with green, blue and red paintbrush marks on top of Mao’s face as well as his clothes.  There are bold brushstrokes within the background of the work that appear sporadically placed.  The painting is hung on a wall with white and purple wallpaper that is a repetition of the portrait of Mao himself.  The repetition pattern is a rough sketch of Mao’s face filled in with a solid purple hue.  The wallpaper itself makes the painting ‘pop’ due to the smart complementary colour choices of yellow and purple.  The repetition of Mao’s face puts importance on his portrait and his position as a political leader.

            The remaining paintings, sculptures and mixed media works throughout the Marx display juxtapose themes of idolizing, whether it is a Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe portrait or a plaster version of Nefertiti.  The mixed ideas of mythology with mass consumption silk-screens create a dynamic feel in a gallery space.  I thoroughly enjoyed the set of a gallery, having sculpture, mixed media and paintings in the same area.  It made for an interactive experience while viewing the work. 

Overall the Hamburger Bahnhof was my favourite gallery.  It was an incredible experience to see contemporary artwork in the flesh.  It gave a great variety in terms of past and recent contemporary artists of the times. 

With over 150 international artists represented, this gallery had the most range including painting, photography, installations, sound, performances, and readings.  The architecture was another very interesting aspect of the gallery.  The actual building was designed by Josef Paul Kleihues, and originally built as the terminal of the Hamburger Berlin railroad line.  An interesting concept and setting for a contemporary gallery.

Day 6 Continued

Outside of the Bauhaus

The Canadian Embassy Meeting Room Ceiling

The Guggenhiem in Berlin

Day 6 - Barnett Newman's Sculpture

Barnett Newman ‘Broken Obelisk’  

The New National Gallery’s outdoor entrance (Neue Nationalgalerie) holds a sculpture by American contemporary artist Barnett Newman ‘Broken Obelisk’.  This steel-made sculpture is an extremely large work measuring over 25 feet high. Lower part is a pyramid 10.5 feet high, balanced on top with an obelisk, extending another 15 feet.  It resembles a broken pencil balancing on a pyramid-shaped base.  The point at which the two parts meet is just over 2 feet square, extremely small surface area.  They are connected by an interior steel pole that is not apparent the viewer.  The work appears shiny to the eye, but the surface of the work is extremely worn and rough.  The top of the work, the obelisk is broken at the top, contrasting drastically with the geometric form of the remaining work.  The sculpture has a huge soaring quality, making people viewing it feel small. 

I was drawn to this sculpture initially due to its dynamic appearance.   Researching this piece of artwork, I found it has quite the history.  This piece was created in 1963-1967, a time of great unrest in America.  It is considered a politically charged sculpture due to Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968.  Texas art collectors made a generous offer to the city of Houston to purchase Newman’s sculpture as a dedication to King.  King delivered his famous speech  “I have a dream”.  This work almost comments on how this speech was in a sense “unfulfilled” or “dashed.”  There are now 4 models of this sculpture in all different locations around the world.

Goals with this work are to develop some very interesting photographs that I will later be able to manipulate and change with photoshop, and possible photo transfer techniques to create art.  It is such an oddly shaped sculpture-I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to use my photography skills to create artistic photo records.  It is an outdoor sculpture, weathered in appearance, having almost a rustic orange colour.  I think I will be able to create some very dynamic shots involving the sculpture against the blueness of the sky.

 

I was quite excited to visit the Neue Nationalgalerie to view both the gallery as well as the outdoor sculpture ‘Broken Obelisk’ by Barnett Newman.  After entering the gallery; the group found out that the permanent collection was unavailable until March.  I was lucky to have chosen an outdoor permanent sculpture that is always on display at the Neue Nationalgalerie.

After viewing the ‘Broken Obelisk’ outside of the Neue Nationalgalerie, I was taken back with the weathered quality of the steel of the sculpture.  I had previously seen photographs of this monument, but was surprised at how weathered and old the sculpture appeared standing before it.  The piece is quite tall, the bottom of the sculpture covered with hard packed icy snow.  There were visual water drip marks on the points where the upper and lower parts meet.  It was weathered, but exceptionally impressive.  The top pencil like part looked as if it was balancing on the pyramid and could fall at any point.  A certain tension is captured with this, making the viewer fell unease towards the larger part being on the top of the pyramid.

 

It was an extremely fun sculpture to photograph; the vertical and diagonal lines combined with the rustic orange colour itself made for interesting compositional frames.  Each photograph chosen is displayed above.  My intension for creating engaging shots was to put emphasis on the soaring quality of the work, and to allow the viewer to notice the tension. Taking angles from below, aiming up the sculpture allows for this soaring quality to occur. Focusing on the point of intersection where the pyramid meets the balancing pencil-top allows for the uneasy and tense quality of the work to show.     Using Photoshop, I was able to put bring out the rustic qualities in the steel itself.  The watermarks appear quite blue against the vibrant orange exterior.  It was a fairly sunny day when we visited the gallery, with not a lot of blue sky unfortunately.  I was quite happy with the results regardless.  The white background juxtaposes the vibrant orange/red rustic shades made for some quite dynamic photographs.  

Day 5

Trip to Dresden